George Lucas gave Kathleen Kennedy the keys to the Star Wars franchise, and she's taking it for a spin on the Autobahn this summer.

Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm since 2012 and executive producer on the new Star Wars Episode VII movie directed by J.J. Abrams, makes her inaugural appearance at Star Wars Celebration when the annual fan event comes to Essen, Germany, July 26-28.

She will share the stage with celebrity host and Return of the Jedi star Warwick Davis for a talk about her long career and current Lucasfilm gig.

"When I joined Lucasfilm, I immediately saw the true passion shared by Star Wars fans around the world," Kennedy said in a statement. "I'm thrilled to attend my first Star Wars Celebration and see in person that energy that makes the Star Wars experience so special."

An eight-time Oscar nominee, Kennedy has worked alongside such icons as Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and Robert Zemeckis as a producer or executive producer on more than 60 films, including the Back to the Future trilogy, Jurassic Park, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Lincoln, The Sixth Sense, The Land Before Time and The Color Purple.